


The Journey

by EmilytheLemur



Category: Penguins of Madagascar
Genre: F/F, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:48:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27901759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilytheLemur/pseuds/EmilytheLemur
Summary: A sequel to my story New Arrivals. Chloe and Dany have left the zoo in search of Chloe's parents. Now they must go on a dangerous yet exciting quest to reunite Chloe with her parents.
Relationships: OCs relationship
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own a few characters in this story. And the penguins and lemurs are mentioned but they don’t appear.

Chloe laid out in the lemur habitat, listening to the radio that played over the loudspeaker. It was another peaceful day and soon, when her parents got back from their walk, she’ll go hang with her best friend before the zoo opened. This was how most mornings went and she wouldn’t change a thing.

Voices broke into her thoughts, shattering the calmness. She looked up to see three lemurs appearing, along with a tall concrete platform and a colorful bouncy thing off to the side of the habitat.

She stared in astonishment. What was happening to her home? She jumped to her feet and looked around. Relief washed over her when she saw her parents. She rushed over to them, but before she got to them, bars sprouted up between her and them.

“No!” she screamed as at first it looked like they were floating up into the sky, then she noticed that a giant Alice, the zookeeper, was picking up the cage. Chloe stumbled back, watching helplessly as Alice turned and stomped away.

A hand appeared on Chloe’s shoulder and she spun around to see her best friend blinking sadly. “I’ll do whatever I can to reunite you with your parents,” she promised.

Sobbing, Chloe threw her arms around Dany. The otter started shaking her. “Chloe!” She shook harder. “Chloe! Wake up, Chloe!”

Chloe blinked open her eyes to darkness. She sat up, confused. “Dany?” she said.

“I’m here.” Chloe felt her friend place her paw on her shoulder.

Suddenly everything came rushing back to her. She remembered how her home had been invaded by new lemurs and that her parents were taken away from her. But Dany had promised to get them back, and she asked the penguins for help and they came up with a plan to reunite the family. Now they were on their way to the Virginia zoo where Chloe’s parents had been transported.

After another moment or two, Chloe was just able to make out her friend’s outline. They were still in the box. How long have they been on this truck? Not long after they left the zoo, Chloe had fallen asleep, the movements of the truck soothing her to sleep. Then she had that nightmare. Thankfully Dany woke her up from it.

Rubbing her eyes, Chloe murmured,” Are we there yet?”

“I don’t think so,” Dany answered. “But it does feel like we’re slowing down. We must be stopping somewhere. It’s too soon to be Virginia though.”

“I wish we could get out of this box and stretch our legs,” Chloe whined, laying back down and staring up into the darkness.

For a while Dany was silent. Then Chloe heard her messing with something. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“Trying to open this box,” Dany replied, sounding breathless.

Chloe opened her mouth, about to say,” Good luck with that,” when there was a snap of wood and the side of the box fell down. Chloe jumped to her feet. “What did you do?” she gasped.

More light shined in the box, and Chloe saw the huge grin on Dany’s face. “I can’t believe it actually worked,” she confessed. “The penguins told me how to open the box when we got to the zoo. I thought now would be a better time to use my new skills.” She ended with a hearty laugh.

Chloe smiled. “You never cease to amaze me.”

“Come on!” Grabbing hold of Chloe’s arm, Dany dragged her out of the box and into the back of the truck. They climbed over more boxes until they found themselves near the top. Light came in through cracks all throughout the truck and they stared out at the mountain of boxes.

“What now?” Chloe asked.

“Don’t… know…” Dany looked around, her eyes landing on the large door to the back of the truck. “Oh! I wonder if I can open that?” She winked at Chloe and ran over there.

Chloe followed more slowly. “I don’t know, Dany… What if you can’t close it again?”

Dany turned to her, looking hurt. “You question my abilities? Who opened that box?”

“You did,” Chloe answered, rolling her eyes playfully.

“Darn right. Now I bet you, I can open  _ and _ close this door. Come on,” Dany added when Chloe still hesitated. “I’m just curious to know where we are. I’ll open this door, poked my head out and see where we are, and then close this door again. That’s all.”

“ _ If _ you can open the door,” Chloe teased.

“Oh, so you  _ do _ doubt me.” Dany reached down and started messing with the door.

After a few minutes, Chloe shook her head and was about to say,” Told you,” but suddenly there was a  _ click _ sound and the door slid open. Chloe covered her eyes at the sudden brightness. When she dared to look again, Dany was standing there, with a look that said  _ Ha! _

“I knew I could do it!” the little otter said, jumping down out of the truck.

Chloe stared after her, mouth opened. After regaining her senses, she called out to her friend. “Dany! Dany, come back!”

But Dany was already running around the truck. Then her voice drifted back to Chloe. “Hey, Coco! Come check this out!”

Annoyed and angry, Chloe checked her surroundings to make sure no human was nearby. Then she hopped out of the truck, too, and ran after her friend. “What are you—“ She stopped mid-sentence as she stared in front of her.

Countless trucks, row after row, were parked in front of a large building. The scene was so shocking that at first, Chloe didn’t notice all the humans swarming about. But then Dany grabbed her arm and yanked her under a nearby truck just as a human with huge boots was stomping by. If Dany hadn’t grabbed her, the human would have stepped right on little Chloe.

“Thanks!” Chloe gasped.

Dany just nodded and turned back to all the trucks parked in front of them. “Where are we?” she whispered.

“I have no id—“

“You’re at a truck stop in Paulsboro, New Jersey.” a voice interrupted Chloe.

“Who said that?” Dany spun around. A creature with black around its eyes and a ring tail stepped out from behind a trash can. It smiled and walked over to them.

Chloe hid herself behind Dany, avoiding meeting the raccoon’s eyes. She was usually shy around new animals, but that king and his subjects who basically took over her old home had ruined all new encounters for her. She was afraid all strangers could end up being like that annoying, bossy, thinks he knows it all, ring tailed lemur.

Dany, seeing Chloe’s reaction, stood tall and stomped over to the raccoon. “Who are you?” she demanded.

“I’m Rosie,” the raccoon said, and for the first time Chloe saw that it was a female. For some reason that made her feel better. Surely a female can’t be as ignorant as a male?

Coming out of hiding, Chloe smiled kindly at the raccoon. “I’m Chloe,” she introduced herself. “And this here—“ She gestured to her otter friend—“ is Dany.”

“Nice to meet you. Um… what are you?” Rosie asked hesitantly. “I’ve never seen any animals like you before.”

Dany rolled her eyes, but Chloe saw amusement in them. “I’m an otter,” she told Rosie. “And Coco here is a lemur.”

Rosie blinked in confusion, and Chloe glared at her friend. “How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that!” she shouted.

Dany gave her a sly smile, then she turned back to Rosie. “So, New Jersey, huh? I knew we weren’t in Virginia yet.”

“You’re going to Virginia?” Rosie asked, and the best friends nodded. “And you got here on a truck?” Again, they nodded. “Um… which truck?”

Gasping, Chloe spun around, realizing for the first time that they had lost track of the truck they were on. They all looked the same! She turned hopefully to Dany. “Please, tell me you remember which truck we were on?”

Dany too was turning around, alarm flashing in her eyes. “Um… um… Maybe it’s… No, not that one… Maybe… Oh! There!” She pointed to a truck, and Chloe was about to ask,” How can you be so sure?” when she noticed that the back of the truck was opened.

Relief crashed over Chloe. “Come on!” she called as she started running toward the truck. “It was nice meeting you!” she called to Rosie as she ran, Dany close behind her.

When they got to the truck, they braced themselves to jump into the back, but suddenly a human appeared, and Dany grabbed Chloe and pushed her under the truck.

“Now that I’ve eaten, I can get back on the road,” the driver said as he walked to the back of the truck. Chloe and Dany exchanged looks; Chloe had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach “First, gotta check on— Oh! The door’s open! How did that happen?” The human looked around for a moment, an anxious look on his face. Then he shrugged and reached up, pulling the door closed. 

A cold chill went down Chloe’s spine.  _ No… no… please no… _

The human walked back around his truck, and Chloe and Dany ran to the back of the truck. “Can you open it again?” Chloe desperately asked her friend.

“Of course, I—“

Just then the truck started rumbling and Chloe lost her balance. She fell to the hard ground and in an instant Dany was beside her. “Are you okay?” the little otter asked.

Chloe nodded, unable to reply as she looked up, The truck was driving away! Chloe was shocked, all she could do was sit there while Dany started chasing it, calling it back. But of course it didn’t listen to her, and soon she gave up and returned to Chloe. The lemur was speechless.

_ The truck left… _ she thought to herself.  _ Without us...  _


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own a few characters in this story.

Pawsteps approaching startled Dany and she spun around to see the female raccoon inching her way over to them. She had a look on her face that showed her sympathy. The otter glanced at Chloe and whispered,” Maybe she can help us.”

Chloe turned to her, before looking at Rosie. “Can you help us?” she asked.

“I can try,” Rosie replied. “But first we need to get away from here!”   


Suddenly the ground started shaking and Dany turned around to see a huge truck heading straight for them. Quickly, she grabbed Chloe and hauled her friend along, Rosie following close behind. Dany didn’t know where to go, but then she heard a new voice calling out to them.

“Over here!”

Without a second thought, Dany turned and ran toward the voice, ducking behind a tree. Panting, she let go of Chloe and looked around. She spotted a creature she had never seen before. It kinda looked like a weasel or a very long rat, and it was completely white. It crouched on all fours in front of them, but as Dany looked at it, it stretched up on two legs and stared back at her.

Instantly, Dany got into a fighting position like she’d seen the penguins back home do so many times, and stood protectively in front of Chloe. The lemur shot her friend a look, but remained silent.

Rosie, however, ran over to the creature and threw her arms around its neck. “Oh, Finnick, I’m glad you showed up when you did! You saved us!”

Finnick quickly hugged her also, before taking a step back, and for the first time, Dany noticed that it was a male. “Nah, Rosie,” he said awkwardly. “You’re clever. You would have found a hiding spot without me.”

Rosie opened her mouth to reply, but Dany straightened up and walked closer to the two. “Wait, hold up, hold up. Who are you? And  _ what _ are you?”

The raccoon turned to her. “This here is Finnick,” she told the otter. “And he’s a ferret.”

“A ferret?” Chloe slowly walked over to them, eyeing Finnick nervously.

“Well,” Finnick kicked his foot along the ground shyly as he spoke. “Technically, I’m an ermine… My kid said that he picked an ermine as a pet because he thought the white fur was better than the brownish color of a ferret. He’s really smart and learns from big books so that he can be a... biographist… I think…” He shook his head as he looked up, as though he just remembered where he was. “Close enough. Anyways, it’s nice to meet more friends. And you,” he pointed to Dany, “you’re an otter, right? We’re basically family. You can be my new cousin.”

Dany looked at him, awkwardly but tried to seem polite with a shy smile. 

Rosie interrupted the conversation by stepping forward to speak to Chloe. “Where was that truck supposed to take you anyway?”

“A zoo in Virginia.” She looked over at Dany with a scared expression. “How will we make it there now? We have no idea how to get there.” As she spoke, her stomach rumbled, reminding her of another problem. “How do we find food out here? We’ll be wandering in circles until we starve to death.” Chloe could feel her breathing become shallow as her panic grew. 

Dany walked over to her friend and put a paw on the lemur’s shoulder. “It’s okay. We can figure it out. Everything will be fine.”

The tightness in Chloe’s chest relieved a bit. Though she still felt scared, it seemed more manageable with her friend next to her. 

Just then, they noticed that Rosie and Finnick seemed to be conferring a few feet away. They watched these two newcomers with slight apprehension until, a couple moments later, they took a few steps forward as though they had reached a conclusion and were ready to share it. 

“You’re headed towards a zoo?” Rosie asked. 

“Um… yeah…” Dany answered. 

“Can we come?” Finnick blurted, then, seeming a tad embarrassed, added quietly,“ We would really like to live in a zoo. It would be great just knowing that we’d be fed each day, instead of struggling to find food and often failing. We could help you get there. It would be good for all of us.”

“We know how to get around without being seen or getting lost.” Rosie added eagerly. “And even though it’s difficult sometimes, we usually find enough food and how hard can finding a little extra be?” Suddenly shy, she made the “sad puppy dog” eyes at Chloe and Dany, hoping her pitiful gaze would convince them to help. “And then, maybe you could find a way to get us into that zoo?”

Chloe and Dany exchanged looks. “What do you think?” Dany asked.

“I’m fine with them coming,” Chloe replied. “Without them, we would have no idea where to go or how to get food.” Her stomach growled again.

Dany started nodding, and then turned back to the raccoon and ferret. “Do you know the way to Virginia?”

They were silent for a moment, then Rosie admitted,” No.”

“But,” Finnick went on before the friends could be disappointed,” if we had a map, I could read it.”

“You can read?” Chloe and Dany said together, looking at Finnick in amazement.

“Somewhat,” the ferret confessed. “My kid loved learning. Mainly about animals, but some other things too. Anyways, he had several big books, and I learned how to read a few words in them. And he also had tons of maps and I figured out how to understand them.”

“Okay, where do we find a map?” Dany asked.

Rosie jumped in place. “Oh! I know where! Follow me!” She took off toward the big building, Finnick running after her. But Dany and Chloe stayed where they were, exchanging uncertain looks.

“I’m not sure about this,” Chloe murmured. “I mean,” she quickly added,” I’m fine with them coming with us. But... a building full of humans... not so much... I’ve never been too fond of humans, you know?” She made an awkward half-smile, tapping her fingers together nervously.

Dany gave her a reassuring pat on her back. “It’s okay. I’ll be with you. I won’t let any human come near you.” Determination burned in her to protect her friend. “Come on!” Grabbing Chloe’s arm, she dragged her along toward the building.

When they caught up to Rosie and Finnick, Dany saw that the ferret stretched up on his hind legs and Rosie climbed on his shoulders, reaching for something hanging on the wall. She pulled it off and jumped down, landing beside Finnick, who looked over at the piece of paper the raccoon now held.

“This is great, Rosie,” the ferret said, taking the map and studying it. “Now let’s see— we’re here in New Jersey and we have to go… Ah! Here’s Virginia. Okay, so if we follow this route, we should—“

“Watch out!” Rosie suddenly yelled, and Dany spun around to see a tall human with large boots walking right toward them.

“Hide!” Finnick whispered urgently, and he and Rosie ran in a random direction.

Dany was about to make a run for it too but then she realized that Chloe was frozen in fear, staring at the human with huge eyes. Thinking fast, Dany took her friend’s paw and looked around. Nearby, a door was cracked open and she pulled Chloe into the room. Other than the little light coming in through the crack of the door, the room was dark and Dany had to narrow her eyes to see the outline of Chloe beside her. Neither of them dared to talk.

_ That was close! _ Dany thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own a few characters in this story.

Rosie’s and Finnick’s voices drifted out of a room, and Dany paused to listen.

“Are you sure you can get us there?” Rosie was asking.

“Yes,” Finnick answered. “But it’ll take a few days, maybe a whole week. It’ll be a long and dangerous journey. Are you sure we should do it?”

“You want to live in a zoo, don’t you?” Rosie sounded kind of impatient. “Or do you want to go on struggling to find food?”

“Speaking of that,” Finnick said,” why did you tell them that we could find food for them? You know we can hardly find food for ourselves!”

“Well, if they knew that, they probably wouldn’t have agreed to sneak us in the zoo.” Rosie let out a sigh. “I know I shouldn’t have lied to them, but we didn’t have a choice. We can’t go on living out here. We need to live in a zoo.”

Dany had heard enough. Angrily, she turned back to where she left Chloe. “Come on,” she said as she walked away, toward the parking lot.

Chloe blinked and ran to catch up to her. “What about Rosie and Finnick? Did you find them?”

“Yes,” Dany growled, then stopped and turned apologetic to Chloe. “Sorry, Coco,” she murmured softly, “Yes, I did find them.”

“And?” Chloe pressed gently.

“We don’t need them,” Dany insisted. “We can find our own way to Virginia.”

“But how are we gonna get there?” Chloe asked. “We don’t have a map, but even if we did, we couldn’t read it.”

“We don’t need a map,” Dany said dismissively. “We can… um... “ Just then a truck appeared and stopped not far away. “We can ride on that truck!” She started running over there.

“Wait, Dany!” Chloe called her back, but when her friend didn’t return, she sighed and followed her. “How do you know this truck is going to Virginia?” she asked when she joined the otter.

“Um… I just do,” Dany answered, avoiding eye contact. She just picked a random truck; she didn’t even consider where it would be heading. What if Chloe was right? What would they do if this truck wasn’t going to Virginia?

They were just climbing onto the back of the truck when someone called out to them. “Hey, what are you doing?”

Turning, Dany saw Rosie and Finnick walking toward the truck. Anger rose in her but she forced herself to appear calm. “What does it look like?” she asked, starting to mess with the back door of the truck. “We’re going to Virginia.”

“Without us?” Finnick sounded hurt.

“Yeah, I thought you said you’d take us with you to the zoo,” Rosie said, frowning. “We told you that we could help you get there and find food and—“

“Find food?” Dany couldn’t hold on to her temper anymore and she jumped down from the truck. “You ‘said’—“ She put air quotes to that word—“ you could find us food, but it’s not true!”

Chloe gasped, but Dany continued to yell at the raccoon and her friend. “I heard you back there! You were arguing whether to tell us that it’s a struggle just trying to find food for yourselves! You lied to us and told us that you could help us find food!”

A paw appeared on Dany’s shoulder and she turned to see Chloe blinking gently at her. But instead of saying anything to her friend, the lemur turned to Rosie and Finnick. “Why didn’t you just tell us the truth? We would have understood and we could have helped each other.”

Rosie looked away, guilt in her eyes. “You’re right; I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” Finnick said, quickly adding,” We just really needed your help and we were worried you would only be willing to help us if we could help you more....”

Dany was about to give a sharp retort, but Chloe quickly interrupted her. “Maybe we can still help each other.”

“What!” Dany gasped. “Coco, can I speak to you in private for a moment?”

Chloe looked at her and nodded. The friends walked a short distance a ways until they were sure Rosie and Finnick couldn’t overhear them.

“Are you losing it or something?” Dany asked. “Why would we want them to come with us now?”

“I just feel like we can help each other,” Chloe respond calmly. She looked Dany in the eyes. “Face it; if we go without them, we wouldn’t stand a chance out there.”

“But—“ Dany tried to say, but Chloe shook her head.

“Don’t lie to yourself, Dany,” the lemur said. “You know just as well as I do that we’d never make it by ourselves. Four together have a better chance than two. Yeah, they lied to us,” she went on quickly when Dany opened her mouth. “But you heard them. They said sorry and if we hope to make it to Virginia, we need all the help we can get.”

Dany wanted to continue to argue, but she knew her friend was right. After a few moments, she finally dipped her head. “Fine,” she muttered. “But I’m not gonna be happy about it,” she quickly said, giving Chloe a displeased look.

“It’ll be okay,” Chloe reassured her, then went back to Rosie and Finnick. Dany hesitated before following her. “You can come,” Chloe was telling them as the otter walked up.

“And when we get there, you can sneak us in the zoo?” Rosie asked shyly.

Dany narrowed her eyes. “We’ll see,” she replied.

* * *

“Are you sure about this?” Chloe asked, glancing at Finnick. The ferret crouched beside her and he stared at the truck in front of them.

“I’m sure,” he said. “This truck will take us through Delaware. From there, we’d need to hop on another truck that’ll take us over a long bridge. Then when we get to Virginia, we just need to figure out where the zoo is. As easy as that.”

_ Yeah, easy, _ Chloe thought doubtfully but decided to keep her misgivings to herself. Finnick had gotten the idea to ride on a truck when Dany and Chloe tried to leave them behind. He said it would be a lot faster than walking, and less dangerous. The others agreed.

Now Chloe and Finnick were keeping an eye on the truck while Dany and Rosie were looking for food for them. Curious, Chloe looked around, spotting her best friend walking back to them, Rosie right behind her. Chloe was glad to see that their search of food was a success. There seemed to be enough food to feed all of them.

_ We need to eat while we can if we’re gonna be stuck on a truck for who knows how long. _ Straightening up, Chloe ran to meet her friend. “This is great, Dany!” she said, grinning.

The otter ducked her head shyly. “Rosie helped, too,” she said quietly, but Chloe noticed that she still didn’t trust the raccoon after she lied to them. Chloe sighed softly. They needed Rosie and Finnick as much as the pair needed them. Why couldn’t Dany see that?

“Great, you found food!” Finnick had joined the others, startling Chloe.

“Humans waste all kinds of stuff,” Rosie said, rolling her eyes.

Dany shrugged. “The more they waste, the more we have to eat.”

Rosie and Finnick nodded in agreement.

After they ate all they could manage, Finnick stood on his hind legs and looked around. “Good, the truck is still here. We should get on it while we can.”

“You  _ sure _ this will take us to Virginia?” Dany asked, looking anxious, and Chloe secretly shared her doubt, but she remained silent.

“It’ll take us as far as the end of Delaware,” the ferret answered calmly. “I heard the driver say to someone that that’s where they were heading. When we get there, we need to find a truck that’ll take us to Virginia and then we find the zoo.”

“And you can help sneak us in,” Rosie added with a glance at Dany. Chloe held her breath, noticing the look that flashed in the otter’s eyes. But instead of replying to the raccoon, Dany turned and ran to the truck. Chloe glanced at Rosie and Finnick, gave them a nervous smile, and then went to join her friend at the truck.

“Try to give them a chance,” Chloe whispered to her friend.

“I did give them a chance,” Dany said, and she bent down to mess with the back of the truck. “They lied to us and let us believe they could find us food,” she reminded the lemur quietly.

“But—“ Chloe was about to say,” But you and Rosie were able to find enough food for all of us.” But before she could, Rosie and Finnick appeared.

“So how do we get in this truck?” Rosie asked.

“Maybe I can—“ Whatever Finnick was about to say was interrupted when the back of the truck slid open and Dany turned to the others. “Well then, that works,” the ferret murmured.

There was a huge grin on Rosie’s face. “That was amazing! How did you learn to do that?”

Dany shrugged, but Chloe could see that she was enjoying their praises. “Someone taught me back home,” she told them. Voices broke into their conversation.

“Quick! The driver’s coming back!’ Finnick said, glancing in a direction, and Chloe turned to see a man walking back to the truck.

The lemur, otter, raccoon, and ferret ducked into the back of the truck. Finnick looked up at the door. “How do we close it?”

“Maybe we have to wait for the human to notice it’s open,” Rosie suggested.

“What if he doesn’t?” Chloe asked nervously, glancing expectantly at Dany. Relief crashed over her when she saw that the otter had her “idea” look on her face.

“I know how we can close it,” Dany said. “Rosie, climb on Finnick’s shoulder. Chloe climb on Rosie’s shoulder,” she added when Rosie obeyed her, and Chloe did as she was told too. Then Dany scurried up the tower of animals. Chloe felt the whole thing start to wobble and Finnick called from the bottom,” Hurry up! I can’t hold you all up much longer!”

Chloe saw with rising fear that the handle of the door was just out of Dany’s reach, but that didn’t seem to discourage Dany. The otter jumped up and when she did that, the tower gave way. Finnick and Rosie fell somewhere farther in the truck, but Chloe landed on her feet near the door. Looking up, she saw Dany hanging on to the handle.

“Are you okay?” she called up to her friend.

“Fine!” With a grunt, Dany managed to pull the door closed, and the only light that broke the darkness came in through cracks.

Chloe looked at the outline of her friend. “You did it!”

Voices came from the back. “Great job!” Finnick said, joining the two friends by the door.

“Yeah,” Rosie added, and Chloe waited to hear if she said anymore, but she didn’t.

Just then the truck started rumbling and all of them stumbled as the truck began to move.

“This is it,” Finnick said. “It’ll take a few hours to get to the end of Delaware, and from there, we need to find another truck to Virginia. And then—“

“Then we find the zoo,” Dany interrupted. “And we  _ might _ sneak you in. We know, we know.”

Chloe elbowed Dany in the stomach, and heard her grunt. “Come on, we might as well get comfortable.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own a few characters in this story.

_ How long have we been on this truck? _ Dany asked herself. She couldn’t remember the last time someone talked. The only sounds were the truck and other vehicles on the road. She was about to lose it if she didn’t get out of here soon, or if someone didn’t speak. She thought about breaking the silence, but she didn’t know what to say. She could just barely see the outlines of her companions.

Besides her, Chloe sat in awkward silence. She wondered if they were reaching the end of Delaware and if they’d have to switch trucks soon. She couldn’t see her friends, but the tension was clear. Everyone was getting restless and Chloe was afraid of someone snapping before they got to their destination.

Rosie and Finnick weren't doing any better. They fidgeted and looked around in the darkness. It wouldn’t be so bad if only Finnick could look over his map to double check things, but it was too dark to see anything.

Finally, Dany couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m gonna open the door and see where we are,” she suddenly announced.

Chloe gasped, and Rosie said,” You can’t do that!”

“Why not?” Dany demanded; she wasn’t thinking clearly.

“We’re on the highway,” Finnick told the otter. “If you open this door while the truck is going sixty or seventy or even eighty miles an hour, we’d fall out and be goners!”

Dany sighed. “Fine,” she muttered. “But surely we got to be close now? It’s been forever!”

“I don’t know how long it’s been,” Finnick said. “And I don’t know how much longer it’ll be. We just have to wait and—“

Just then the truck started slowing down. The animals sat there, hoping that the time to switch trucks was finally here. The truck skidded to a halt and they waited a moment longer.

Suddenly the door was slid open and a human stood there. “Hide!” Finnick hissed quietly, and all four of them ducked behind boxes. Chloe found herself sitting beside Dany; the otter glanced at her but neither of them dared to talk. Across from them, Chloe saw Finnick poking his head out to see if the human was still there. The ferret quickly retreated back to cover so she guessed the coast wasn’t clear.

After what felt like a long time, Finnick finally motioned that they can come out of hiding, and they all ran out of the truck, hoping to the ground. They ducked underneath the truck and looked around.

“Where are we?” Dany asked.

“You all stay here,” Finnick said. “I’ll go look.”

“I’m coming with you,” Rosie immediately spoke up.

Finnick smiled and nodded, and the two of them bashed off while Chloe and Dany got comfortable, expecting to wait here awhile for them to return. A moment or two went by and Dany cleared her throat.

“So, Coco,” the otter started, and Chloe got ready to be upset with her friend for calling her that insulting nickname, but she pushed her anger away as Dany went on. “We should be there soon. I bet you can’t wait to be reunited with your parents.”

The lemur nodded. “I’m really excited,” she admitted, then added,” But also really nervous.”

“Nervous?” Dany echoed. “What do you have to be nervous about?”

“I mean… what if they don’t want to see me?” Chloe stammered, frowning.

“Stop talking nonsense!” Dany said furiously. “Of course they’d want to see you,” she added gentler. “They’re your parents, after all! I’m sure they missed you very much, but when they see you again, they’re gonna be so happy.”

Chloe stared at her, not sure what to say for a few heartbeats. Then something dawned on her for the very first time since leaving the Central Park Zoo. “Oh, Dany, what will  _ you _ do?” she asked quietly.

Dany blinked, confused. “What do you mean?”

“You left your home to come with me on this journey to find my parents,” Chloe reminded her. “But where will you live now? I’m so sorry, Dany,” she went on before the otter could reply. “You don’t have a home anymore and it’s because of me. I’m sorry I didn’t think about that before now. What will you do when we get there?”

“Calm down,” Dany told her, resting her hand on her shoulder. “And don’t worry. I’m sure the Virginia Zoo has an otter exhibit, too. I can just live with them.”

Chloe didn’t think of that. “Oh, yeah, that makes sense,” she muttered, embarrassed about almost having a panic attack. But before she could say more, Finnick and Rosie returned, and Dany stood up to meet them.

“Where are we?” the otter demanded at once. “And how much farther to Virginia?”

“We’re at a superstore in Delmar, Delaware right now,” Finnick told them. He pulled out a map and gestured to where they were. “And we still need to get here,” he added, pointing to Virginia. “We’re about halfway there, so we still have—”

“A long way to go,” Dany interrupted, groaning dramaitly.

Chloe patted her shoulder gently, hoping to reassure her, but said nothing. She was starting to get impatient too. She wished they were already there; she just wanted to be with her parents again. She missed them. She still didn’t understand why they didn’t fight harder to stay. Even though Dany comforted her and said that of course they would be glad to see her, she still had her doubts. She wondered if she should have stayed at the Central Park Zoo.

_ We’re already halfway there,  _ she thought.  _ Can’t turn back now. But what will I do if my parents aren’t happy to see me? _ She kept all this to herself. She didn’t want Dany to know she was worrying so much.  _ I just have to believe my parents  _ want  _ to see me. _


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own a few characters in this story.

“So what do we do now?” Dany asked impatiently. She was ready to get a move on. The sooner they find a truck to take them the rest of the way to Virginia, the sooner they will get there and she can finally fulfill my promise by reuniting Chloe with her parents. She knew her lemur friend was worried that they wouldn't be happy to see her, but Dany had complete confidence that they wanted their daughter back. Now if only she could convince Chloe of that.

“We find a truck to take us to Virginia,” Finnick answered, folding up his map. “But I don’t know how. I was lucky to overhear the last guy talking about coming here. We might need to—“

He was interrupted by a voice. Peeking out from under the truck, Dany saw two humans walking past. They paused for a moment to talk.

“So where are you heading?” a tall man with blonde-haired asked his friend.

“The Virginia Zoo,” replied the other man. “I have a shipment for them.”

“What’s the shipment?” asked the first man.

“Food.”

They continued their conversation as they walked off and excitement rose inside Dany.  _ The Virginia Zoo! _ she thought, turning to Chloe. The look on the lemur’s face told her that she had also heard what the humans were talking about.

“Well, that was easy,” Rosie said, laughter in her eyes.

“Come on, gals!” Finnick turned to follow the humans. “We need to get in that truck before he leaves.”

With Chloe beside her, and Rosie and Finnick behind her, Dany ran after the humans. One man stopped beside a truck and said his goodbyes to his friend. Recognizing his voice, Dany made for that truck, hopping on the back of it. Her friends waited for her to open the door and when she managed to open it, they all jumped in.

“Do we have to do the same thing we did last time to close the door?” Chloe asked, looking up at the door nervously.

“Probably—“

A new voice interrupted the ferret and they all ducked behind boxes as a human appeared.

“Hey!” he called out to someone. “Your back door is open!”

Another human— the driver— appeared. “Oh, thanks,” he said to the man. He reached up and pulled the door down. Darkness engulfed everyone and Dany narrowed her eyes to see Chloe beside her.

“What now?” the lemur asked.

Dany stretched out on a box. “Get comfortable.”

“Yes,” Finnick agreed. “It’ll take at least two hours to get to the zoo.”

Dany groaned inwardly and decided to take her own advice. She would sleep until they got to the zoo.

* * *

Something felt wrong, Chloe was sure of it. She could sense that something bad was about to happen. She looked around in the darkness. She could hear soft snores coming beside her that told her Dany was sound asleep. Should she wake her? She wondered if Rosie and Finnick could sense the danger.

“Rosie?” she asked softly.

It was a moment before the raccoon replied. “Yes?”

“Do you feel that?”

“Like something bad is going to happen?” Finnick asked anxiously. “I’m… um… sure it’s nothing…” He sounded unsure about what he said.

“Should I wake Dany?” Chloe asked.

For a long time there was no answer. Then Finnick said,” Maybe. Just in case, you know.”

Chloe shook Dany. “Dany. Dany, wake up!”

She heard her groan and saw her friend’s outline sitting up. “What’s wrong?” the otter murmured sleepily. Then she seemed more alert as if she felt it too. “Seriously, what’s wrong?”

“We don’t know,” Chloe told her, trying not to sound so panicky and failing miserably.

Dany put her hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m sure it’s noth—“

Just then there was a screeching of tires and the animals were jerked around as the truck skidded to a halt. There was a noise that sounded like metal hitting metal, and then everything was still. Chloe found herself underneath an overturned box, in a pile of sweet smelling food.

“Coco?” she heard Dany calling out to her. “Chloe? Chloe, where are you?”

“Here!” the lemur replied, pushing the box off her. There was a scuffing of paws and suddenly Dany was beside her.

“Are you okay?” she asked anxiously.

“Y-Yeah,” Chloe stammered, standing up. Then she realized something. “Where are Rosie and Finnick?”

The two friends called out to the pair, and they heard Rosie answered. “Over here!”

Chloe and Dany hurried to her, but they didn’t see the ferret. “Where’s Finnick?”

“Finnick!” they called, and at first there was no answer. Chloe started to get worried. Then they heard a soft voice.

“Finnick!” Rosie gasped, running over to him, Dany and Chloe right behind her. They pushed a box aside and another until they finally found the ermine laying on his back. Rosie rushed to his side. “Finnick, are you okay?”

“My leg,” he whispered. “It hurts. A box landed on me and I think it’s broken.”

Chloe couldn’t hold in a gasp. What were they going to do now? How were they going to get to Virginia?

“Can you move?” Dany asked.

“I-I think so,” Finnick grunted, but when he tried getting up, he winced and fell back down.

“You shouldn’t move,” Rosie ordered sternly.

“But we can’t stay here!” Chloe blurted out.

“Coco’s right,” Dany said. “I don’t know what happened, but we need to get away from here. Come on, Finnick, you can lean on my shoulder.”

“Mine too,” Rosie quickly added.

“But how will we get out?” Chloe asked anxiously. “The door is clos—“

“No it’s not,” Dany interrupted as she and Rosie helped Finnick up. She pointed across the back of the truck and Chloe looked to see a little light from outside was seeping into the darkness. She sniffed and smelled gasoline. Dany must have smelled it too because she said,” We need to hurry.”

As quickly as they can, Dany and Rosie helped Finnick climb over the boxes. Chloe got to the door first and peered out. She saw people walking around. They talked quickly and quietly. There was something very wrong. “Come on!” she called to the others.

She watched as Dany squeezed through the door, followed by Finnick, then Rosie, and finally Chloe. Once outside, Chloe saw the chaos for the first time. The truck was laying on its side and people crowded around it, speaking to one another urgently. A little way from the animals, some people were carrying a weird looking machine to the front door of the truck. Someone ordered something to one of the people standing by the door and he opened his mouth and spoke something to his neighbor, but they were too far away for her to hear them.

Suddenly she noticed there was a second, smaller vehicle. She gasped when she saw it. It was totally destroyed, smashed in on itself and that was where the gasoline smell was coming from. She shivered. Something bad happened here and they needed to get far away before anything else happened.

“Come on, Coco!” Dany called to her, and Chloe turned to see her friends walking up a hill, away from the road. Dany and Rosie supported Finnick between them. Chloe ran after them, joining them at the top of the hill.

They all turned back at the scene. From up here, they could see that the road was blocked and people swarmed around the truck and car, calling to one another. Several of them were doing something with that strange machine Chloe noticed earlier; they seemed to be using it to open the roof of the truck.

_ What happened to the driver? _ the lemur thought anxiously.  _ I hope he’s okay… _

A touch on her shoulder startled her and she turned to see Dany beside her, blinking at her sadly. Chloe noticed that Rosie and Finnick were standing a ways from them; the ferret was sitting on the ground while Rosie crouched over him, murmuring comforting words to him.

“Are you okay?” Dany asked.

Chloe took a shaky breath and let it out. “I-I don’t know,” she admitted, quickly adding,” I mean, yeah, I’m okay. I’m not hurt. I’m just… worried…”

“It’s gonna be okay,” Dany promised her.

Looking down at the wreckage, Chloe shook her head. “How can it be? That was our only way to Virginia. And now Finnick’s hurt. We can’t walk there. We don’t even know where we are! In the middle of nowhere it looks like!” Her voice rose as panic overtook her and she found herself breathing heavily, mind racing. What were they going to do?  _ We’ll die out here with no shelter and no food! I’ll never see my parents again! I’m sorry… _ she silently told her parents, hoping that somehow they will hear her and forgive her for going so far from her home.  _ They don’t even know I left. They probably believe I’m still at the Central Park Zoo, safe. _

“Chloe, listen to me.” Dany spoke sternly. “We will be okay. I’ll figure out a way to get us to Virginia. I’m not going to let our journey end here. I promise you; you  _ will _ see your parents again.”

Chloe stared at her and said nothing.  _ I hope you’re right, _ she thought, sighing miserably.  _ I really hope you’re right. _


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own a few characters in this story.

Dany turned her back on the truck and looked at Chloe. Then she glanced over at Rosie and Finnick. They can’t stay here, in case the humans saw them. “We need to get away from here,” she said.

Rosie looked up. “Where are we going to go? We have no way to get to Virginia now! And Finnick can’t walk.” She looked anxiously at the ermine, who still sat on the ground, his leg spread out in front of him.

But when Rosie spoke, he said,” I can if I have to,” and he tried to get up, but fell back down with a grunt.

“No you can’t,” Rosie said sternly.

Dany thought quickly, looking around. Was that a building in the distance? She turned to Finnick and asked,” If we help you, can you walk over there?” She pointed to it.

Finnick looked in that direction and nodded.

“Are you sure?” Rosie asked anxiously.

Again, he nodded.

“Chloe?” Dany looked at the lemur, who stood beside her. “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“Right. Let’s go.” Dany and Rosie helped Finnick to his feet, and all four of them started heading toward the building. It was difficult work, supporting the ferret over the uneven ground, and a few times Dany almost fell, but she managed to catch herself every time. The structure got bigger and bigger until at last they stumbled into the parking lot.

Relief crashed over Dany, but that was short lived because the ground shook and she looked up to see a human heading straight toward them. “Hide!” As fast as they could, Dany and Rosie helped Finnick behind the building. Chloe came last and peeked around the corner.

“Okay, he didn’t see us,” the lemur said, letting out a sigh of relief.

Finnick sat down, Rosie close beside him. “Okay, we’re here. What now?” the raccoon asked.

“You three stay here,” Dany said. “I’m going to see if I can find us a ride.”

“I’m coming with you,” Chloe immediately piped up, and Dany smiled and nodded.

Making sure nobody was around, the two friends ran to the front of the store. Several cars were parked there and the whole place was swarming with humans. Ducking behind a trash can, they looked out as a man holding a little boy’s hand walked by.

“Okay, we have to hurry,” the man said. “We still have a long way to go to get to Virginia. You excited about seeing all the animals at the zoo?”

“Yeah!” the little boy answered.

Dany pricked her ears. “You hear that, Coco?”

“Huh? Hear what?” Chloe forced her eyes away from the colorful fruits in the window of the little convenience store. 

“Gee thanks.... Good to know you pay attention when I talk....”

“Of course, pal. Anything for you.” Chloe gave her friend a goofy grin. 

Dany rolled her eyes. “Anyways,” she said,” I found us a ride to your parents.”

“Really?” Chloe perked up.

“Yeah, come on. Let’s go get Rosie and Finnick, and we need to hurry before that man with his boy leaves!” She turned around and ran to the back of the store, Chloe close behind her.

Finnick hesitantly stretched out his leg, wincing from the pain. Rosie sat beside him, watching him anxiously. They both looked up as Dany and Chloe came back.

“What did you find?” the raccoon asked, standing up.

“A ride to Virginia,” Dany answered with a huge grin. “But come on, we need to hurry!”

“I don’t think Finnick can hurry,” Rosie objected, with a glance at the ferret.

He tried to stand up, wincing, and Rosie bent over to help him up. “I can if I have to,” he grunted.

“We just need to hurry to the car, then you can sit all the way to the Virginia Zoo,” Dany told him, and Finnick nodded in understanding, but Rosie still seemed uncertain.

Chloe was poking her head around the corner. “You said that man had a boy with him?” she asked Dany, who nodded. “Well, there they go!”

“What?” Dany gasped, and ran to her side. She looked out to see the human she noticed walking into the store, helping his boy into their vehicle. She noticed an adult woman sitting in the passenger seat and a girl in the back. “Come on!” She hurried to Finnick and grabbed his arm, yanking him away from Rosie as she pulled him along with her.

“Hey!” Rosie objected, running to Finnick’s other side to help him.

Chloe in the lead, they guided the ermine over to the car. They ducked under it as the man closed the back door and started to climb into the driver’s seat. “Come on!” Dany called as she ran to the back of the car and pulled on the handle of the door. It swung open and she looked down at her friends. “Hurry!”

She helped Finnick up into the car first, then Rosie. She was reaching down to help Chloe up when the car started. “Come on, Coco!” She jumped into the air, but just missed Dany’s outstretched paw.

The car started backing up. “Chloe!”

“Wait, honey,” a female voice said, and Dany glanced toward the front. It was the female adult who spoke. “The trunk is open,” she told her husband.

He sighed and said,” I thought I closed that.” She heard him open his door.

“Come on, Chloe!” Dany reached down again just as Chloe jumped up and grabbed onto her paw. Dany pulled her into the car right as the human came around. They quickly hid in the bags that were in the back of the car. Dany heard the man muttering to himself as he closed the trunk.

When the man was back in his seat, and was backing the car up and away from the store, the four animals finally came out of hiding. “Now, all we do is enjoy the ride,” Dany said, laying down on a blanket. “We’ll be at the zoo soon.”

Finnick and Rosie were murmuring to each other, and Dany just caught a few words.

“...sure we did the right thing?” Rosie asked.

“Yes, we’ll be living in a zoo soon…” Finnick answered.

“I hope it’s worth it…”

Dany stopped listening to them and turned to Chloe. She was looking anxious. “What’s wrong?” the otter asked her.

Chloe jumped and looked at her friend. “Oh, nothing,” she quickly said, but when Dany gave her a look that said,” I don’t believe you,” Chloe sighed and admitted,” I’m just thinking about our journey, everything that’s gone wrong. And I don’t even know if my parents  _ want _ to see me.”

Dany rolled her eyes playfully, but she saw that Chloe took it more personally. Trying to cheer her up, she nudged the lemur gently and said,” We already discussed this. They do want to see you, so just sit back and enjoy the ride, and you’ll see that I’m right when we get there.”

Sighing, Chloe laid down beside Dany and stared up at the roof. Dany looked down at her for a moment, then laid down too.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own a few characters in this story.

Voices startled Chloe awake and for a moment she forgot where she was. Then she recognized the man’s voice and remembered that she was in the back of his car, heading to Virginia. She sat up and listened to the human.

“We’re here!”

Instantly Chloe was on alert, looking around her. Dany was asleep beside her, and Finnick and Rosie were laying together close by. She shook her otter friend. “Dany? Dany, wake up!”

Dany lifted her head sleepily. “Huh? What’s happening?”

“I think we’re there,” Chloe told her, and when she said that, Rosie looked up.

“We are?” the raccoon said, and she turned to shake Finnick, who woke with a start. He sat up quickly, then winced from the pain in his leg. “Calm down,” Rosie told him. “We’re at the zoo.”

Finnick rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Okay, cool.”

Dany jumped up to look out the window, and Chloe waited anxiously. Was this it? Could her parents be somewhere close by? Finally, the otter dropped back down and looked at the others. “This isn’t the zoo,” she reported.

“Are you sure?” Rosie asked.

“Of course I’m sure,” Dany snapped, and she opened her mouth to say more, but just then the man in the driver seat spoke again.

“Hey, guys, wake up. We’re here.”

“At zoo?” the little boy asked.

“No,” his father replied. “We’re at the restaurant. We’re going to go in here and eat, and then go to the hotel. We’ll go to the zoo first thing in the morning.”

Someone yawned and the female adult said,” Come on, I’m starving.”

Doors opened and the animals ducked to avoid being seen. They waited until the humans had left the car. Then they came out of hiding and looked at each other.

Chloe’s stomach growled and she blushed, embarrassed. “I’m hungry too,” she said.

“Me too,” Rosie added, while Finnick nodded.

Dany looked thoughtful. “Okay, let’s go see if we can find something to eat.”

“Should all of us go?” Chloe asked.

“Maybe a couple of us need to stay here while the other two go looking for food,” Rosie suggested.

“You and Dany found food last time,” Finnick pointed out. “Chloe and I can stay here while you two go. That’s okay with you, Chloe?”

The lemur nodded.

“Okay, come on, Rosie.” Dany opened the trunk, but before she hopped out of the car, she turned to Chloe. “Will you be okay?”

Chloe rolled her eyes but deep down she felt touched that Dany was so worried about her. “I’ll be fine. Now go find us lots and lots of food.”

“Don’t worry, we will,” Rosie said, and she jumped down, followed by Dany.

Chloe sat down, guessing it was gonna be a bit before they got back and she decided to get comfortable. Suddenly she realized Finnick was scooting closer to her and she glanced at him. For a moment they sat in awkward silence, then Chloe dared to ask,” How’s your leg?”

“It still hurts a little,” the ferret answered. They were silent again for a few heartbeats. Then he added,” Thank you for letting us come along with you to the zoo.”

Chloe blinked, surprised. “Oh… um… you’re welcome.” She cleared her throat and whispered,” I’m sorry you got hurt.”

Finnick waved her apology away. “Not your fault,” he said. “It was nobody’s fault really; just bad luck that that truck hit that car. I’ll be alright in no time. Exercise is good for it.” He tried moving his leg, but winced from the pain. Chloe flinched. Noticing this, he quickly added,” All good.” He gave her a smile and she returned it nervously.

After a bit, he spoke again. “So, I think Dany is coming around to Rosie and I,” the ferret said.

Chloe nodded and responded,” Yeah, I think she finally realized you’re friends. She didn’t mean anything by not trusting you at first,” she added, frowning. “She’s just cautious.”

“I understand,” Finnick replied. “Maybe now she’ll help sneak us in the zoo.”

Chloe said nothing. She wondered  _ how _ they were going to sneak Finnick and Rosie into the zoo. She didn’t even know how her and Dany was going to get in. If they had stayed in the first truck, it would have taken them straight there and the boxes would have been unloaded. When the humans saw animals in them, they would have put them in their correct habitats.

_ But if we had stayed on the truck, we would never have met Finnick and Rosie, _ the lemur thought.  _ I’m sure if we can think of a way to get them in the zoo, we can also think of how to get us in there. I just hope my parents don’t mind that I followed them. _

Suddenly she heard voices and she ducked as humans walked by the car they were hiding in. Then she heard another noise and relief crashed over her when she recognized her best friend’s call. She looked down and saw Dany standing there, arms full of food. Rosie was just joining her. The raccoon also carried lots of food.

Reaching down, Chloe helped them put the food in the car. Then Dany and Rosie climbed up.

“Great job!” Finnick said, eyes shining as he looked at the food.

All of them helped themselves to their share, but there were still leftovers when everyone had their fill. Chloe sat back, licking her lips, satisfied. For a while nobody spoke. Then she asked,” Now what?”

Finnick and Rosie exchanged looks. It was Dany who answered. “We will stay here until we arrive at the zoo tomorrow,” she told everyone.

“Right.” Rosie laid down, stretching, then closed her eyes. Finnick settled down beside her, while Chloe sat next to Dany. But the otter stayed alert, Chloe noticed.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, and Dany jumped, then relaxed and turned to her friend. There was seriousness in her eyes which was unusual for the strong-spirited, goofy otter.

But then the expression vanished and she smiled, looking more like herself again. “Um… it’s nothing,” she stammered, glancing at Chloe. “I’m just… um… thinking about our new life at the Virginia Zoo when we get there tomorrow. And I’m also wondering how we’re going to get in,” she quickly added before Chloe could respond to her first thought.

The lemur blinked. “Yeah, I was also wondering the same thing earlier,” she admitted. “Are we gonna sneak Finnick and Rosie in?” she whispered, nodding toward the pair; Finnick’s ear twitched, but neither of them moved or opened their eyes.

Dany nodded. “I think so, but how?”

“I have an idea,” Chloe confessed shyly.

“How?” Dany asked, curious.

“I’m thinking, what if Finnick sat somewhere the humans could see him, and when they realize he’s hurt, they’ll take him to the zoo and look at him? Rosie can stay by his side, and hopefully when the humans see how close they are, they’ll take her in too. But I still haven’t thought of a way for us to get in. We’re not hurt…”

Dany thought for a long while. Then she said,” I wonder if we can find a truck that has boxes we can hide in, and when the humans find us, they’ll put us in our correct habitats…”

Chloe nodded slowly. “Yeah, that could work. I don’t have a better plan.”

Dany’s jaws parted in a yawn. “Well, let’s get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be a big day.”

“Yeah.” Chloe settled down, but her mind was too awake to go to sleep. She watched as Dany curled into a ball and within moments she was snoring. Chloe sighed and tried to get more comfortable, willing sleep to come, but it was a long time until it did. She kept thinking about tomorrow and how she was going to be reunited with her parents. After this long joungry, nothing seemed better than to see them. She couldn’t wait to tell them all about the excitement and struggles it took to get here.

Finally, after a long time of picturing how tomorrow was going to play out, she fell asleep and dreamed about seeing her parents again and catching up with them. Her dream was interrupted by noises. First she heard voices, but they were so distant and quiet, she didn’t think they were a bother, so she just curled up and went back to sleep.

Then she heard a vehicle approaching and at first it didn’t seem like anything, but then she heard more voices, still quiet but urgent. She started to wake up and opened her eyes. Looking around, she realized the car was surrounded by people! She turned to Dany beside her.

“Hey, Dany,” she said softly, but when her otter friend didn’t answer, she said a little louder,” Dany!”

She groaned and rubbed her eyes. “Huh? Wha—?”

Rosie and Finnick started stirring too.

“I think we’ve been spotted!” Chloe hissed at them.

As soon as they heard that, the others were alerted and looking around in a panic. “Oh no!” Rosie gasped while Finnick asked,” What do we do?”

Dany stood up on her back legs, staring around at the humans. Chloe saw that she was struggling to stay calm. “I’ll tell you what we shouldn’t do,” the otter said, turning back to her friends. “We shouldn’t panic. That would only make things worse.”

“Worse?” Rosie snapped. “How can it get any worse? Humans are bad news. We’ll never get to the zoo now!” Her eyes were as wide as possible.

“This was a bad idea,” Finnick whispered, shaking his head. “I should have known sneaking around in trucks and cars would lead to us being captured!”

Dany turned to Chloe. “This isn’t good! I thought I learned something from the penguins about forming a team, but I can’t keep everyone calm in a situation like this! How would Skipper do it?”

Chloe frowned, pushing down her panic for the sake of her friend. “You’re doing fine. We just need to—“

She broke off when she realized the humans were slowly approaching the back of the car. Alarm shot through her when she saw they carried cages.  _ Just like the ones they used to trap my parents! _ She wanted to make a run for it, but the car was surrounded. If the people caught her, she’ll never see her parents again.

_ They’ll send us all the way back to The Central Park Zoo! _ she thought, her heart pounding in her chest.  _ No, please no! I’ve come so far! I can’t start all over! _


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own a few characters in this story.

Dany watched as the humans reached for the handle of the trunk. Her mind raced. What are they going to do? They needed to get to the Virginia Zoo! They didn’t have time for this!

She honestly thought her plan was flawless, but after their long, exhausting journey, they hit a brick wall. She wondered where these humans would take them.  _ We don’t need to go anywhere but where Chloe’s parents are! What would Skipper do? Think like him! _

She looked around, forcing her mind to function like the flat-headed penguin’s. Suddenly she saw an opening. The humans gathered together on either side of the car, but there was nobody straight in front of them. Once they opened the trunk, they could make a straight dash to freedom.  _ Yes, that’s it! _

“Okay, guys, listen to me.” Chloe blinked at her anxiously, and Dany saw fear in her eyes. But Rosie and Finnick were still panicking. “Guys!” the otter tried again. Still they weren’t listening. She ran to them and slapped them both in the face to snap them out of it.

They gasped and rubbed their red cheeks. “What was that for?” Rosie asked sourly.

“I have a plan.”

“Another one?” Finnick looked doubtful.

“Yeah, your plans haven’t been going well so far,” the raccoon snorted.

“This one is good, okay? Just look.” She pointed at the gap and said,” When I yell run, run like your life depends on it!” She paused for a moment, before adding quietly,” Which it might.”

Chloe looked at her fearfully, and Dany regretted saying that, but she didn’t have time to take her words back because the trunk was almost open. She crouched down. “Wait for it. Wait for it…”

“Hold on!” Rosie suddenly said. “Finnick can’t—“

Just then the door was opened all the way, and Dany pushed off her back legs and yelled,” Run!” She made a dash for the opening.

Hands reached out for her, but she dodged and landed on the ground. As soon as her feet hit the sidewalk, she ran in a random direction. She swerved when she heard the traffic and then found herself hiding behind a trash can.

Panting, she dared to look back the way she came and horror ran through her when she saw the humans grabbing Chloe. The lemur struggled in their hands, but they managed to put her in a cage.

_ Coco, no! _

She watched as Rosie and Finnick had a short, urgent conversation before the raccoon jumped out of the car and ran toward Dany. Then a human gently reached in the car and picked up Finnick, placing him in a cage too.

Rosie ducked behind the trash can with Dany. “What happened?” the otter demanded.

The raccoon glared at her. “Finnick couldn’t run!” she snapped. “His leg, remember? I tried telling you that, but you wouldn’t listen! And now they have him and Chloe. Are you happy now? Stop trying to be the leader because you’re not. A true leader would consider the condition of all her companions!”

Dany lowered her eyes, shame washing over her.  _ I’m no leader, _ she thought miserably.  _ I’m sorry, Chloe… _ If Skipper was here, he’d be so disappointed.

“Look!” Rosie pointed at something, and Dany turned to see the humans putting their friends’ cages inside a white truck. “Now what do we do?” the raccoon asked, sighing deeply.

Dany watched the humans talk amongst themselves, their voices just barely reaching her.

“Should we try to find the ones who ran away?” one of them asked.

“The streets are no place for these kind of animals,” someone else said.

“Do a quick search around,” an older human ordered. “But hurry. We have to get them to the zoo before something happens to them.”

_ The zoo? _ Dany thought, wondering if it was the same one Chloe’s parents were at.

“Okay, Rosie, listen to me.”

Rosie rolled her eyes. “Again? Remember what just happened? I’m not going along with  _ another _ plan of yours.”

“No, this one is actually good, I promise you.”

Rosie still looked doubtful but she allowed Dany to explain her plan. At first the raccoon looked shocked, but when Dany told her reasoning, a thoughtful expression appeared in her eyes and she nodded slowly.

“Maybe…” she murmured.

“Come on!” Dany said and grabbed her friend’s arm. She dragged her in the open and looked at the humans as they searched for them. “Hey!” she called to them. “Over here!”

Someone turned to them and said to his friends,” There they are!”

“Careful!” the older male ordered. “They could be dangerous.”

_ Dangerous? _ Why did that feel like a compliment? She puffed out her chest and stood taller as she thought,  _ The penguins are dangerous. Maybe I’m like them after all. _ Then she remembered that she  _ wanted _ to be captured. She calmed herself as the humans approached her and Rosie.

“I don’t like this,” Rosie whispered, hiding behind the otter.

“It’s okay.” Dany looked at her. “Trust me.”

Rosie looked doubtful, but she didn’t object and just stayed where she was, which said all it needed to. Warmth spread through Dany.  _ Maybe she does trust me, _ she thought happily.

She forced herself not to flinch as one of the humans picked her up, while another one scooped up Rosie. They put them in cages and then into the truck. Dany looked down at Chloe.

“Coco, are you okay?” she asked anxiously.

“Yeah,” the lemur answered, her eyes wide. “But Dany, where did you let them catch you? Now none of us will get to the Virginia Zoo!”

“I’m not going without you,” Dany insisted. “What? You think I want to show up and explain to your parents why you aren’t with me? Besides, I think we have a ride straight to the zoo.”

Finnick glanced up at her. “How do you know?” he demanded. Clearly he was still very upset which was understandable.

_ My last plan didn’t go so well, _ she thought.  _ But I really believe this one will go better. _

“I heard one of them mention a zoo,” Dany told them. “It could be the one we were heading too. Now we have a way in with no problem.”

Finnick looked uncertain and Rosie glanced away. But there was hope in Chloe’s eyes. “You think so?” she said.

Dany nodded. Just then the doors closed and the animals were engulfed in darkness. A moment later, the truck started, jerking forward. Dany sat down. “We’ll be there soon,” she reassured her friends.

“You said that last time,” she heard Finnick mutter.

She sighed and got comfortable. She hoped she was right. What if she wasn’t? What if these humans don’t take them to the Virginia Zoo?  _ Oh please let me be right! _

* * *

It wasn’t a long ride and soon the truck was slowing down. Dany got up and pricked her ears. She could hear voices outside but couldn’t understand what they were saying.

The others were stirring too. “Where do you think we are?” Chloe asked anxiously.

“Nowhere good,” Finnick muttered darkly.

“Hush,” Dany hissed when she heard Chloe let out a whimper. “I’m sure we’re at—“

Just then the doors opened and sunlight blinded the animals. Dany rubbed her eyes and when her vision was cleared, she looked around. The truck was backed up to an outdoor room that had boxes off to one side and a table or two closer to the door of the building. Humans gathered around their cages. Finnick gasped as they picked up his pen and carried him away.

“No!” Rosie screamed, which turned into a growl when someone picked up her cage. Then they lifted Chloe and took her away. Dany swallowed nervously as they did the same to her, bringing her into another, smaller room.

She felt lightheaded with relief when she noticed her friends, still in their cages, but unharmed.

“Oh no,” Finnick said. “I know what’s going on here! This is an interrogation! My human had a magic box that showed stuff like this all the time, and it never ended well! This is NOT good, you guys!” He was panicking.

“Have you seen anyone find a way out of these rooms?” Dany asked.

“Yeah, once.” Finnick looked uncertain. He opened his mouth to continue when footsteps interrupted him and a tall human in a lab coat walked in. The ermine squeaked aloud and ducked, though he had nowhere to hide because he was stuck in a cage.

A gasp from Chloe made Dany turn to see the lemur staring at the human with huge eyes and shaking. She wished she could go over to her and comfort her.  _ Curse these cages, _ she thought angrily.

The animals watched as the human walked over to Finnick, who was still panicking. He backed away as the human reached forward to open his cage. The ferret flashed a look at Dany that said,” Help me!”

_ Think, Dany, think! What would Skipper do? _ Suddenly it came to her.  _ A distraction! _ Thinking fast, she started jumping up and down. “Hey human!” she called. “Look at me! Don’t touch that ferret!”

The human turned and walked over to Dany, looking at her questioningly. She blinked up at him, glanced behind him to see Finnick messing with the lock of his cage. Encouraged to see him working on a escape, she continued to jump around, determined to keep the human’s attention on her.

He looked confused. Alarm shot through her when he started to turn away, but when she pretended to trip, he spun back around and opened her cage. He reached in to pick her up. Before he could touch her, she squeezed past him and jumped out of the cage, landing on the floor. Fast, she hid behind a table. When she looked out again, she saw that Finnick had his cage open, but he was hesitating on the edge of the table, and suddenly Dany remembered his hurt leg.

Making sure the human wasn’t close enough to catch her, she ran over there and helped him down. It was difficult and they almost fell to the floor, but she managed to get off the table and hide.

“You stay here,” she whispered. They ducked when the human walked by. “I’m gonna get Rosie and Chloe,” the otter told him. He nodded and she checked her surroundings before running to the closest cage: Rosie’s.

The raccoon stared at her with wide eyes as Dany worked to unlock her cage. Finally the door swung open and Rosie hurried to where Finnick was hiding. Then Dany turned to Chloe, but before she could open her cage, the human spotted her and ran over to her. Dany jumped back, bumping into something. Looking over her shoulder, she saw another human. This one was a female and she reached down to grab Dany. The otter struggled in her grip but she soon submitted because she didn’t want to hurt the human.

She noticed more humans picking up Rosie and Finnick. They kicked and screamed, but after Dany told them not to hurt the humans, they stopped. Rosie said,” What if they hurt us?”

“I don’t think they want to hurt us,” Dany answered. She looked up at the female human and saw the gentle smile on her face. “I don’t know why, but I trust them.”

“Trust them?” Finnick echoed, eyes wide with panic. “How can you say that? They captured us! And now they’ve done it again! This isn’t good! We need to get out of here!”

But Dany wasn’t listening. She overheard the first human say something about a “checkup”. Was that all it was? A simple checkup, like the zookeepers used to do at the Central Park Zoo? Relief crashed over her. There was nothing to worry about.

“It’s a checkup,” she called to everyone.

She noticed Chloe staring at her dumbfounded.

“A-A checkup?” Rosie echoed.

“You mean they’re just going to check us to make sure we’re healthy before-before… what?” Finnick blinked in confusion.

“Before they take us to our own habitat,” Dany answered.

“Our own habitat?” Rosie said, while Finnick looked thoughtful. “You mean to say that we are at the zoo and they’re gonna check us before giving us new homes?” the raccoon asked, and Dany nodded. She noticed that Rosie still looked a little doubtful, but she didn’t object when the humans carried her and Finnick over to a table.

The female human placed Dany down beside Chloe’s cage, and then reached over to let out the lemur. Chloe ran to Dany and hugged her. When they let go of each other, Dany saw the huge smile on Chloe’s face.

“You did it,” she whispered. “You got us to the Virginia Zoo. Thank you.”

Dany nodded in acknowledgement, trying to appear modest. “It was nothing.” She didn’t want to mention it, but Chloe’s hug and her appreciation meant more to her than any words could say.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own a few characters in this story.

The check up went well. They even fixed Finnick’s leg up and before they took him away he said it was feeling a lot better. They took Rosie with him; the humans seemed to notice how close they were because one of them mentioned putting them in a habitat together, which pleased both of them.

Now Chloe sat beside Dany, still in the room. She listened as the humans discussed what they were going to do with them.

“It’s a good thing we just got those two Red Ruffed Lemurs,” someone said with a glance at Chloe.

The lemur’s ears pricked.  _ My parents? _ she thought, excitement rising in her.

Dany glanced at her, seeming to have read her mind because she gave her a knowing look.

“And we can put this little otter with the others,” the female human said, looking at Dany, who smiled eagerly.

“Right, let’s take them to their habitats,” a male human instructed, and suddenly Chloe and Dany were picked up. They placed them in two cages and carried them out of the room. The sunlight outside blinded Chloe, but when she could see again, she gasped at her surroundings. This zoo was much different than the one she was born in.

Sidewalks led farther into the zoo, splitting off in several directions, and signs were everywhere, but this place was so much bigger than the Central Park Zoo, and she could already see so many animals all in their habitats. A few turned to look at her as the zookeepers started heading toward the back of the zoo.

She looked over her shoulder to see the humans carrying Dany turning down a different path. “Dany!” she called out to her friend.

“It’s okay, Coco,” she called back. “I’ll find you later; I promise!” Then the humans turned a corner and Dany was out of sight.

_ Oh Dany, _ she thought miserably. It felt strange not being with her after so long of journeying together. Her heart longed to be with her best friend.  _ I hope she’s able to find me later… _

Then she realized that the humans ventured off the path and were heading toward an enclosure. She looked around, her heart beating faster as she recognized two lemurs she hadn't seen in such a long time. They didn’t seem to notice the zookeepers approaching and Chloe could hear what they were saying as she got closer.

“It was a lot more open at the Central Park Zoo,” her dad muttered, sighing.

“Yeah,” her mother agreed. “I miss our morning walks. And I miss Chloe,” she added sadly.

“I do too,” her dad replied. “But remember we didn’t want to upset her by making a scene so we had to go. That’s life in a zoo. Animals are transported to different zoos sometimes and we couldn’t go against that. All we can hope is that the penguins watch out for our daughter.”

As her parents talked, the zookeepers opened the door in the back of the habitat, closing it behind them as they carried Chloe inside. Then they placed the cage down and opened it. She hesitantly stepped out, sniffing the air. Warm, familiar scents bathed her tongue and she suddenly felt weak with relief. She made it. She finally found her parents again.

_ Thanks to Dany. _

“Chloe?”

She looked up and saw her parents staring at her with wide, unbelieving eyes. She slowly walked over to them, hardly noticing the humans gathering around them. They met her halfway and she blinked up at them, suddenly very nervous. Were they happy to see her? Excited? Upset? She searched their eyes, but all she saw in them were shock and astonishment.

“I-Is that really you?’ her mother asked anxiously.

Chloe swallowed and nodded.

Then all of the sudden they threw their arms around her and hugged her tightly. Her mother brushed some dirt out of her fur and kissed her on the forehead. Her dad took in her scent deeply as if he couldn’t believe it was actually her. She welcomed her parents fussing over her for once; it was just so good to see them again.

Finally after a while they took a step back and stared at their daughter. “How in the world did you get here?” her dad asked, staring at her like he couldn’t believe she was standing here with them.

Chloe shifted her feet nervously, explaining how the penguins set all this up for them to travel here to find her parents, but for now she skipped the part where the truck left them behind and they had to journey all this way. She decided to tell them all that later, when the humans weren’t hovering over them. “But I couldn’t have made it all this way without Dany,” she admitted shyly.

“Dany?” her mother said, blinking in surprise. “Is she here too?” She looked past Chloe like she expected to see her daughter’s otter friend.

“Yeah, but the zookeepers took her to the otter habitat,” Chloe explained. “She said she’ll find us later.”

Suddenly Chloe’s dad’s eyes narrowed with disapproval. “The penguins set this up?” he demanded.

Chloe gulped. She suddenly wished Dany was here. She was better at explaining things than her. “O-Only because Dany asked them to, after I begged her to help me find you,” she stammered. “Please don’t be mad at the penguins or Dany. I’m the one who you should be upset with.” She looked down at the ground for a moment, and when she looked back up, her mother was looking at her daughter with pure happiness.

But her dad was shaking his head. “That was very reckless, what you and Dany did. I should send you straight back to New York.”

Chloe stared at him, heart racing, but as her father continued, she forced herself to relax. “But I won’t,” he said. “We missed you, sweetheart.” He hugged her again and her mother wrapped her arms around her too.

“I missed you too,” she whispered.

When they pulled away, Chloe’s dad smiled at her and said,” When Dany finds us later, I need to thank her for bringing you to us. She did well looking after you.” He messed up the fur on top of her head and Chloe grinned up at him, warmth spreading throughout her body. She was reunited with her parents. Can this get any better?

* * *

Later, after the humans finally left the lemur habitat and after Chloe told her parents everything that happened since they were transported— including her new friends Rosie and Finnick, which they said they couldn’t wait to meet— she sat around the habitat, staring up at the sky through the mesh cage. She recalled her dad commenting on the lack of openness compared to their old home, and he was right. She missed the Central Park Zoo, but she was so happy to be with her parents again.

She looked across the habitat to where they were chittering with the other lemurs. She heard her name and thought they were discussing her sudden arrival. But they didn’t seem upset. They looked thrilled to have their daughter back, and Chloe was glad of that.

_ Dany was right, _ she thought.  _ They are happy to see me. _

Thinking of her friend, she wondered what she was doing. She missed her. This is the longest she’s been away from her since they started their journey.  _ I wonder if I could find a way out and go search for her… _

As if her thoughts summoned her, she heard her friend calling out to her. “Coco! Hey, Coco!”

Spinning around, she saw the little otter standing on the other side of the large cage. Overcome with joy, Chloe ran to the bars that separated her from her best friend.

“Dany! I’m so happy to see you! I missed you…”

She giggled. “I missed you, too, Coco.”

For a moment they stood there awkwardly, then Chloe asked,” Wanna come in?”

Dany nodded and studied the enclosure carefully. Chloe followed her to the back of the habitat, where there was a door for the humans to get in

“Can you get in somehow?” Chloe asked, missing her old home. She wasn’t used to being in a cage and she felt so trapped, especially because she didn’t know of a way out yet. If she had to stay here, with these bars keeping her from her friends, she’d go crazy.

“If only I had…” Dany looked around, suddenly brightening. She ran off somewhere and came back holding something. She showed it to Chloe.

“A pen?” she asked, confused.

Nodding, Dany climbed up the mesh cage until she was leveled with the doorknob. She screwed the top off and removed the thin ink cartridge inside. A look of concentration appeared on her face as she stuck it in the key hole, carefully wiggling it. Then there was a  _ click _ sound and the door swung open.

Dany dropped to the ground in front of Chloe, and the lemur gaped at her, not believing she just did that. “How did you learn to do that?” she gasped.

The little otter shrugged and looked away. “Just a trick I learned,” she murmured, adding even quieter,” To impress the penguins.”

Chloe stared at her, speechless, suddenly realizing something.  _ Dany gave up her dream to join the penguins to come here with me and I didn’t even think about that until now! What is wrong with me? Now because of me Dany is dreamless. Oh, what have I done? _

As if sensing her friend’s thoughts, Dany quickly said,” No worries. Come on, Coco! Let’s go see Rosie and Finnick!”

Chloe glanced over her shoulder to see her parents standing behind her. “Can I go?” she asked.

They exchanged a look, then turned back to their daughter. “Sure,” her dad answered.

“But be careful,” her mom added. “Some of the zookeepers might still be hanging around.”

“Don’t worry,” Dany told them, grinning. “I’ll make sure nothing happens to Coco.”

“Thanks, Dany.” Chloe’s dad paused for a moment, before saying,” And thanks for bringing our daughter back to us. We owe you so much.” He and his mate hugged each other, and smiled at Chloe.

Dany waved her paw dismissively. “Oh, it was nothing. I couldn’t stand seeing a family being torn apart.” Before Chloe’s parents could say more, the otter turned to her best friend and said,” Come on, Coco!” She walked out of the habitat, waited for Chloe, before closing the door behind them when they were outside. Then they started their search for their raccoon and ferret friends.

* * *

The four friends sat just outside of Rosie’s and Finnick’s habitat. It didn’t take long for Chloe and Dany to find them; they weren’t far from the lemur habitat. And the door of their cage was easy enough for Dany to open. Chloe realized her friend was getting good at opening doors and cages.  _ The penguins would be so proud of her, _ she thought, smiling to herself.

“So how do you two like it here so far?” Dany asked Rosie and Finnick.

“It’s great!” Rosie answered instantly. “The people bring us food and we have a warm, sheltered place to stay. It’s so much better here than it was at that truck stop.”

Finnick nodded in agreement. “And my leg is feeling a lot better already,” he added. “Look.” He stood up and placed his weight on the leg, walking around with no problem. Chloe and Dany smiled.

“That’s awesome!” Dany said, while Chloe said,” Congratulations.”

“Thanks.” Finnick sat down beside Rosie, and Chloe noticed that look they shared. It confused her. Then the ferret said,” There’s something else, too…”

Chloe exchanged a glance with Dany. “What’s that?” Dany asked.

Rosie grinned at Finnick, a sparkle in her eyes, and he seemed happy too. Suddenly she recognized the look on their faces. It was the same look Dany wore sometimes when they hung out, but Chloe could never identify it. It always drove her crazy not knowing what her friend was thinking when she looked at her like that.

Dany, however, seemed to know what was happening because suddenly she squeaked out loud and said,” Really? You two— Oh, that’s great!”

Chloe blinked. “What?” she asked, confused.

Her three friends looked at each other; then Dany whispered to her,” They got together.”

“Got together?” Chloe echoed. She thought for a moment, before it dawned on her. “Oooh! You mean… you two are a couple now?”

Rosie nodded and smiled up at Finnick, eyes shining. “He finally asked me after the humans left us alone. And of course I said yes!” She giggled and leaned on Finnick’s shoulder; the ferret wrapped his arm around her. Dany smiled at them, but Chloe just stared, mind racing.

_ Rosie and Finnick together… I didn’t even realize they liked each other! _ More thoughts ran through her head, but they were going by so fast that she couldn’t focus on any of them. Then voices broke into her pondering and she looked up to see two zookeepers walking toward them. At the same time the others spotted them.

Quickly, Rosie and Finnick ran back into their cage, closing the door behind them.

“Come on, Coco!” Dany grabbed Chloe’s arm and dragged her away, back toward the lemur habitat. The humans didn’t see them, but they didn’t stop until they arrived back at Chloe's new home. Dany paused, breathing heavily. “That was a close one!” the otter panted.

Chloe hugged her friend. “Will you be okay getting back to your habitat on your own?” she asked.

Dany nodded. “Yep. First, I need to make sure you’re safely inside yours.” She searched for the ink cartridge and climbed up the cage when she found it. She opened the door for Chloe, who ran inside. Dany closed it behind her and dropped to the ground. “I’ll see you later, Coco.”

“Okay,” Chloe said, waving goodbye as Dany walked away. When she was out of sight, she turned to see her parents watching her from a tree branch.

“How’d it go?” her mother called down to her.

“Fine,” Chloe answered, retreating to a sunny spot near the edge of the cage. She laid down and listened to her parents talking to each other. She sighed happily.  _ This is a good place, _ she thought.  _ Even if I have to live in a cage. I have good friends, a warm place to sleep. And I’m with my parents again. _ She sighed.  _ I miss my old home and my old life, but not as much as I used to. I think I’m gonna like living here. _


	10. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own a few characters in this story.

The voices of so many animals reached Chloe from inside the cage where the zookeepers kept the lemurs. This zoo didn’t have music playing over the loudspeaker like the Central Park Zoo, so she sat in a branch and listened to conversations all over the zoo.

“Dinner should be here soon,” a monkey said.

“I can’t wait. I’m starving!” his den mate declared.

Somewhere nearby, unseen animals talked to one another, some speaking so loudly that they gave her a headache, others murmuring so quiet that she had strained her ears to hear.

With a sigh, she sat back on her branch and reflected on everything that’s happened to her in such a short time. It had all started when those new lemurs arrived and the “king” started bossing everyone around. Then her parents were transported to this zoo and she begged her best friend, Dany, to bring them back. She ended up going to the penguins and convincing them to help her. They set it up for Chloe and Dany to follow Chloe’s parents here.

But somewhere in New Jersey, they got out of the truck to take a look around and it ended up leaving them. They met their new friends, Rosie the raccoon and Finnick the white ferret. They helped them find food and rides to make it all the way to Virginia. After a couple of rides on trucks and a bad wreck where Finnick was injured, they finally found a car that would take them straight to the zoo, but humans came and took them away. They thought they were in trouble; however the humans took them to the zoo they needed to go. And Chloe was reunited with her parents. For the first time in several days, she was happy and content.

Now she thought about Dany and how much she’s done for her.  _ She’s sacrificed so much for me, _ Chloe thought, frowning.  _ And I’m nothing but selfish. She’s done so much that I can never repay her enough. How could I even start? She’s… She’s… _

Suddenly her mind flashed back to yesterday when she found out that Rosie and Finnick got together, and she remembered the look they gave each other.  _ The same look Dany sometimes gives me… _

Everything they’ve been through flashed through Chloe’s mind and her heart swelled with affection for the little otter. At first it was harmless, but then she really thought about the look and what it meant for Rosie and Finnick. She knew she’d never find anyone as special and as great as Dany. There was nobody she wanted by her side through life. Suddenly a thought hit her and she sat up, mind racing.

Jumping out of the tree, she hurried across the habitat. Earlier that day, she had done a thorough search of the habitat, wanting to find a way out so she didn’t need to wait on Dany to come see her. She discovered a secret way out that the zookeepers had no idea about.

Before she got to the broken part of the cage, she heard her parents calling out to her. She turned to see them walking over to her.

“Where are you going, sweetie?” her mother asked, picking at her fur like she usually did, but Chloe knocked her away.

“I’m going to go see Dany,” she answered.

“Be careful,” her dad warned. “The zookeepers might still be around.”

“I will,” Chloe promised and turned to leave. Her dad called after her,” Say hi to Dany for us!”

Once out of the lemur exhibit, she hurried along to the otter habitat. She’s never been there, but Dany told her that it was located in a building near the hippopotamus’. She also mentioned that visitors come and watch the otters swim in their pool or bask under heat lamps. She said it wasn’t anything like her old home, but she would learn to love it if it meant staying close to Chloe. Again, Chloe’s heart swelled with emotion for her otter friend. Dany was so caring and obviously loved her more than Chloe thought she did. It made her feel bad that she didn’t realize until now.

Focusing her mind on the newly discovered feelings, Chloe ducked into the otter house and slipped into their environment. She passed one or two otters relaxing on rocks before she found her friend talking to a group of little ones. She was telling them a story.

“So the king thought he could boss us around,” Dany was saying as she walked up. “But I soon taught him that  _ nobody  _ orders me about. I—” She caught sight of Chloe and smiled at her before turning her attention back on the young otters. “I show him that anyone who dares gives  _ me _ orders, that I don’t take commands kindly and I told him that I could most likely take him on in a fight, so then—”

Chloe had heard enough. Rolling her eyes playfully, she said,” Really? That’s what happened? I was sure my parents interrupted us before it got that far.”

“Yeah, well,” her otter friend stammered. “If they hadn’t shown up when they did, I would have demonstrated my highly advanced fighting moves on him. Anyways,” she quickly went on before Chloe could reply,” why don’t you all run off and do something?” She was talking to the young ones.

“Aww, okay,” they whined, but they left anyway.

“So you’re a storyteller now?” Chloe teased her friend.

Dany shrugged. “There weren’t any young otters at the Central Park Zoo. They were curious to know how I ended up here so I was telling them. But you ruined it.” She stuck her tongue out at the lemur.

“Sorry,” Chloe laughed.

“No worries.” Dany shrugged again and slipped over to Chloe’s side. “So what’s up?”

“Is there somewhere private we can talk?” Chloe asked her, glancing around at all the otters. This place was more crowded than back home. How did Dany stand it? Yeah, there were one or two more lemurs with her and her parents, but not as many as there were otters.

“Sure. Come on.” Dany ran off, and Chloe chased after her.

This zoo didn’t have a clock tower like the Central Park Zoo where they could watch the sunset, but just outside of the walls, there was a big hill and now they found themselves settling down there. The sun sank low in the sky, which was a bright orange color. Chloe stared ahead, wondering how to start this conversation. She knew she could talk to Dany about anything, no matter how awkward… But this… This was the most awkward thing they would ever talk about…

She cleared her throat. “Um… Dany…?” she started nervously.

The otter glanced at her. “Yes?”

“Well...um… you see… I… um… I never realized… um…”

Dany blinked at her. “Chloe?” She looked concerned. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah… I’m just… um… What I’m trying to say is… um…” She sighed. “I don’t know…”

Reaching forward, Dany took hold of her paw and Chloe turned to stared directly into her eyes. Suddenly calmness washed over her and she sighed softly. “Dany,” she breathed.

“Yes, Coco?”

Chloe remembered a time when she hated that degrading nickname, but now she was used to it; Dany had called her that so many times now that she was kind of enjoying it. Squeezing her friend’s hand, the lemur leaned closer and laid a kiss on her cheek. Dany started, shocked.

“C-Chloe,” she stammered.

“Listen to me, Dany. I never realized these feelings toward you before. I always saw us as friends, but you didn’t, huh?” Dany slowly shook her head. “And now I realize them too. I love you, Dany.”

For a moment, Dany was speechless, gaping at her, still holding her hand. Then all of the sudden, she threw her arms around her and yanked her into a tight hug. “Oh, Chloe! Oh, Chloe! I love you, I love you, Chloe!”

Chloe giggled and hugged her back. Finally, they moved away from each other and sat there for long moments, neither of them speaking. Then Dany asked,” So are we… together?”

“If you want to be,” Chloe murmured.

“I would like that more than anything,” Dany insisted breathlessly.

Chloe smiled. “Should we go back?”

“No,” Dany answered, moving closer to Chloe. “Let’s just sit here for awhile.”

“Okay.” Chloe leaned her head against her friend.

“Okay.” Dany entwined their hands together again. So they sat there, until the sun had set completely, and night started to creep in. Only when the lampposts in the zoo turned on and lit up the paths for the few humans that remained, did the pair get up and slip back into the zoo. They kissed each other goodnight and then went to their own separate habitats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE END!!

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! Thank you!


End file.
